Before you assume you know where your visitors are coming from, look at the data. International visitation is a huge objective of many destination marketing organizations, hotels and other brands. And while increasing international visitation is very important for brands and local economies, don’t forget about those domestic travelers. Our new research study, which compares travelers from the U.S. and Latin America, shows that travelers from Mexico, Brazil and the U.S., in particular, are more likely to travel domestically than internationally. This is demonstrated in the following graph, showing the percentages of travelers who stay in their own country.
This observation is supported by our own Expedia Group data, which shows that travelers across those four countries were first searching for destinations within their own country over international destinations — based on search data on Expedia Group sites in Q1 and Q2 of this year. For example, the top three destinations U.S. travelers searched for was Las Vegas, Orlando and New York City. And, the top three destinations Brazilians searched for were Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. However, Latin American brands should be aware that our data shows that there are plenty of Latin American destinations in the U.S. traveler’s search set. In fact, Mexico comes in the top three for most-searched countries for the U.S.
Other interesting findings from the study comparing U.S. and Latin American travelers include:
- U.S. travelers take shorter vacations than Latin American travelers, and fewer trips per year than travelers from Mexico and Brazil. You can better reach Latin American travelers by promoting a longer length-of-stay itinerary.
- Travelers can be destination indecisive when they first decide to take a trip; they are more likely to be deciding between two or more destinations than already have one in mind.
- In total, six in 10 are undecided on a trip destination. U.S. travelers are more likely to already have a destination in mind when they start planning.
- Travelers in this group prioritize activities and experiences when they are planning a trip, though U.S. travelers also prioritize lowest price, while Latin American travelers are more likely to prioritize things like outdoor activities.
To see more findings and comparisons between U.S. and Latin American travelers, you can download the full study.
